The Perfect Lie
by Kurissyma san Tybalt
Summary: Nothing's perfect. The world's not perfect, but that doesn't make it any less beautiful. Royai.


_**Dear Faithful Readers—If I don't get anything else up, happy Royai Day for June 11!! Oh, and Maes is alive because I want him to be!! -Riss**_

The Perfect Lie

The thirteen-year lie had started simply enough. Roy had been pestering her, Riza recalled vaguely- asking all sorts of personal questions of the sort that she really hated.

"Hey, Riza," he'd said cutely. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

16-years-old, Riza had laughed.

"Do you??" he'd persisted and Riza giggled. _"Do_ you??"

"Well, of course I do!" she'd replied playfully, then she'd hit him upside the head and run off.

She hadn't, of course, but it had been all in good fun at the time. She'd never expected it to come up again.

But then at Ishbal…

"_How's the boyfriend, Riza?"_

She'd stared at him like he was mad.

"What? He dump you?"

How could she reply to that?! She couldn't very well tell him that he'd never existed in the first place!! "He's _fine,_ thank you very much!!" she'd said pompously. "Said he'd wait for me. _Mighty_ jealous of me surrounded by all these men. Loves me dearly, I might add."

"Oh, so it's love now, is it?" he'd said bitterly and she'd faltered.

She hadn't meant to say love, but she couldn't back down now.

"I know how alien such a feeling must seem to you but, yes, I love him. How could I not? He's perfect."

"Nobody's perfect."

Riza'd huffed at that.

"You're not perfect. You can't even tell a good lie."

"It's not a lie!!"

Roy'd looked up slowly and fixed his eyes on hers. "What's his name?"

His was the first name to come to mind.

"It's Roy."

"Oh?"

"A different Roy,"she'd assured him quickly. "One that's _perfect._"

He hadn't replied.

Riza'd hesitated, then sat down next to him. "Are you okay?"

He stiffened. "Why did you come here, Riza?"

"You can't make me regret that, Roy. Don't even try," she replied quietly. It was the only thing she'd been certain of.

"Why not? How badly can you honestly want _this_?" He gestured around him helplessly with this remark.

"I want to help…"

"Help Amestris? Why? What has it ever done for you?" Bitterness seeped through his every word. "Riza, what has _anyone_ ever done for you, you poor sweet girl?"

"Roy…?"

"The world's such a cruel place, Riza. Why bother…"

Tears filled the young girl's eyes at that. She was still so young. Too young… Silently, she swam into his arms in that quiet, pleading way that little girls often do when they need someone to hold, and Roy couldn't refuse, opening his arms to her without hesitation. In silence, they allowed themselves to find comfort in the dry cool of the desert night.

"What about your boyfriend?" he said eventually and she looked up at him slowly, eyes full of the sort of honest sincerity that nobody with a heart could deny.

"He's not _here_," she said.

That was a mistake.

She'd meant to say: "he's not real"

It'd come out wrong, completely by chance.

And so the lie would continue for another ten years.

-

"Oh My God…" General Mustang sighed exhaustedly as he collapsed into his chair, safe behind the locked office door.

"Sir?" said Havoc, one of only two officers who had bothered to turn up to work on the holiday.

"Oh, Havoc. Good," Roy puffed. "There are about two-hundred disappointed girls waiting in that hallway right now in desperate need of your remarkable ability to disperse them." Havoc's rolled his eyes at this but nodded and stood- anything to get Roy and Riza alone together today.

"Happy Valentines Day, sir," he said brightly. "You too, L'tenant!"

As the door closed, Roy caught his breath and moved to stand over the only other officer in the room. "Another Valentines Day alone, Hawkeye?"

"Yes, I suppose," Riza agreed with a shrug.

"And the boyfriend doesn't mind?"

"He's very flexible, sir," Riza replied boredly, without even looking up from the papers she was going over. "We'll celebrate later tonight."

Both of them flinched at the suggestiveness of that comment.

"Oh…"

At that point, both of them started to stay something, but broke off each as the other began, a light blush taking up on their cheeks.

"…So how is Roy?" the General asked eventually. "The perfect one, I mean."

Riza blinked and glanced up at him slowly. "Oh, he's… well, he's perfect, sir."

"Oh… That's… perfect, I guess."

"Yeah," said Riza flatly. "Perfect."

A few moments passed in silence and Roy pondered the tiny frown that had found its way onto Riza's pretty face. "It's not perfect is it, Riza?" he asked, pulling up a chair beside hers.

"Nothing's perfect," Riza replied, gaze fixed stubbornly in the opposite direction.

"Not even Roy?"

"Nothing," Riza repeated, throwing a meaningful glance in his direction before fixing her eyes once again on her work.

"And you're okay with that?"

Riza sighed and put her pen down hopelessly. "Is there something specific that you want to say to me, sir, or is this just another excuse to get out of your paperwork?"

"Oh, I-"

Riza raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"I… Your Roy's not real is he, Riza? The perfect one?"

"Well, he's not perfect," Riza said honestly. "'My Roy' is far from perfect."

"So why do you like him so much??" Roy couldn't help the slight whiny edge that his voice had taken on.

"…I think it's because… I grew up with him, and he's always been there. I don't know. He cares about me. I… Well, I love him, you know?"

"I see…" said Roy, looking away. "Then… I'm very happy for you both. I mean, you obviously care about him a lot, so-"

"The only thing about my Roy is his self-confidence," Riza went on, without really listening to what Roy was saying. "He needs to learn to see himself the way that all of _us_ do. ...And, well, being a little more efficient with the paperwork couldn't hurt." Roy glanced up sharply at that and Riza smiled warmly. "Still, I think he's perfect. Perfect for me, that is. Don't you think?"

Roy nodded slowly, eyes set directly on hers. "Yeah. Sounds perfect, Riza."

"You are," she told him. "You are, for me."

Roy smiled widely and leaned closer to her, just as the door banged open.

Maes Hughes blinked in surprise as the two of them leapt apart, then he grinned widely. "Aww, guys!!" he said happily. "You guys are just too perfect for each other!!"

"Yeah," Roy agreed, taking Riza's hands in his and squeezing them affectionately. "We are."


End file.
